Aybüke Pusat and 'partisan' debates at the IMM Assembly: 'I thought Mr. Faruk was a CHP member'

The second session of the April meetings of the IMM Assembly was held at the municipal building in Saraçhane, chaired by IMM Deputy Mayor Nuri Aslan.

Taking the floor while questions were being discussed in the assembly, AK Party Group Deputy Chairman Faruk Gökkuş stated that there was no tolerance even for questions here, and that the CHP did not give anyone other than themselves the right to speak.

Gökkuş said, "When it is the press that supports you, it is not 'partisan,' but when someone does not think like you and speaks in favor of this side, it becomes 'partisan.' When a singer, artist, or movie actor says what you say, it is not 'partisan,' but when they speak in favor of this side, it becomes 'partisan.' And you exert such neighborhood pressure that you cancel their concerts, cancel their series, and don't even let them speak... You have established such neighborhood pressure that you don't even give those who speak against you a chance to live."

Upon this, CHP Group Deputy Chairman Ülkü İnanlı took the floor and said, "Honestly, for a moment I thought Mr. Faruk was a member of the CHP. I think her name was Aybüke Pusat; she was recently fired from a TRT series, and then her theater play was canceled because she supported a call from our Chairman. We are saying the same thing. In theory, we get along very well with Mr. Faruk, but unfortunately, the party he is a member of is wrong."

"I REJECT THIS FASCIST MENTALITY"

Taking the floor on this issue, MHP Group Deputy Chairman Orkun Ayhan stated that he saw a lynching campaign against social media phenomenon Gökhan Ünver.

Stating that Ünver did not say anything to CHP Chairman Özgür Özel or Ekrem İmamoğlu, and did not insult them, Ayhan said, "Avcılar and Bodrum municipalities are canceling their programs. In Kadıköy, some pseudo-intellectual thug of an actor comes out, shoots videos, and says, 'We canceled his April programs, we are playing with the bread of people like this,' and so on. I said, 'I wonder what this man said?' I looked, he didn't say anything, he didn't make a statement, he didn't speak. He could be AK Party, MHP, or CHP; he might not enter politics, he might not speak. But you are so insincere, you have hidden behind a fake politeness, and you lynched the man. The man has children, yes. You played with his bread. Big municipalities, big people came out and said, 'We will no longer give this man bread in this country.'"

Touching on the subject of actress Aybüke Pusat, Ayhan said, "I am saying this so that it can be perceived as a clear example of this insincere politeness. There is a lady named Aybüke Pusat who acts in a series on TRT. What is TRT? It is a state channel. If you boycott TRT on a state channel, if you try to tarnish its reputation, then please, leave the job before TRT fires you. That is a right. Then what did you do? Again with the same insincerity, big mayors, big assembly members, and pens-for-hire in the press came out and started shouting, 'We are all Aybüke Pusat.' I am saying this so you can understand the difference. One is boycotting the state channel while working on the state channel, the other is doing nothing. Such great fascism..."

Stating that when entering the state channel, no one looks at which party Aybüke Pusat belongs to or who she voted for, and that she worked because she did her job well, Ayhan said, "Gökhan Ünver said nothing, he did not speak. People do not have to be political or take sides. We have apolitical people. Are you going to deprive them all of their bread? I reject this insincere, fascist mentality."